Charles B. Pierce directed several films in the 1970s, two of which were potent mixtures of crime and horror. The first was the overly-clinical, coldly effective "The Town that Dreaded Sundown," based on a string of real-life murders in mid-century Texas; the second was "The Evictors," which follows a young couple in 1942 Louisiana who move into a rustic farmhouse in the woods. Little do they know, the house has a dark past as the site of numerous unsolved murders. Before long, the wife finds herself being continually stalked by a man prowling on the property and threatening her life.As a thriller, "The Evictors" works quite well—it has intrigue, mystery, and a truly effective twist-ending. What shocked me in watching it however was how much it functions as a horror film, in some ways even more so than Pierce's "The Town that Dreaded Sundown." The film is anchored at the rustic farmhouse, which leaves poor Jessica Harper at her own wits, a candlestick telephone her only lifeline. Since the bulk of the film is centered around her and the time she spends alone at the house, there is considerable opportunity for thrills and suspense that Pierce cashes in on. There are some phenomenal sequences in which she is confronted by the ominous stranger (played by Vic Morrow). One encounter occurs late at night in a window, and is possibly one of the most effective "jump" scares I've seen. A second masterful scene has her looking up while using the phone in the foyer; the camera shifts to her point of view, and the audience watches as the edge of the villain's hat creeps around he corner at the top of the dimly-lit staircase. It's these simple domestic terrors that have been the fodder of numerous horror films well into the twenty-first century—one needs to look no further than "The Strangers," "High Tension," or even "The Purge" to see that these scenarios still scare us. Home invasions are perhaps some of the scariest kinds of encounters with evil because they occur in our own sacred space, outside the realm of public life; we expect to be safe there, and the illusion of four walls can trick us into forgetting that this isn't necessarily the case. Pierce realizes this, and presses all the keys in placing his thrills. There are a handful of sepia-toned flashback sequences detailing past murders in the home that are likewise effective and predate Fulci's "The Beyond."Atmospherically, the film is sublimely Southern Gothic, very colorful, and the period setting is nicely done. The B-movie budgetary limitations do show a bit, but they weirdly melt into the tapestry of the era. A hazy and at times piercing score punctuates the film's more intense moments. One pitfall is that there is some rather choppy editing throughout, which does distract at times. Harper is very likable in her role despite some instances of hammy acting, and Vic Morrow turns in an unexpectedly chilling performance. The final reveal is less obvious than it should be, and the penultimate scene riffs on a moment reminiscent of "Psycho."In the end, I was colored surprised by how much I enjoyed "The Evictors." As a low-budget thriller, it is nicely photographed and offers some finely-tuned moments of legitimate horror that is unexpected and familiar. Ultimately, it is a B-movie, and thus has some of the limitations that come along with that—but then again, the material itself doesn't necessitate much of a budget anyway. I was no less taken aback by how astutely Pierce is able to play on universal fears; there are moments in this film that are still chilling over forty years later. 8/10.

Although "The Evictors" could be considered as a little bit too soft to fit into the horror category, I acknowledge it as a very effective and overlooked psychological horror film. I think it is a character-driven film, in which past events acquire a lot of relevance to build the atmosphere.In "The Evictors", the story takes place around the year 1942. A woman named Ruth Watkins and her husband Ben, move into a cozy house in Louisiana, in what seems to be an isolated village. Ruth feels very lonely, since her husband is away most of the time and the other women from town don't seem very friendly towards her, except for Ollie Gibson, an elderly woman in a wheelchair, who also happens to be the only neighbor in the area. One day, Ollie invites Ruth to her house for a pleasant evening with some coffee and cake. Well, the pleasant evening stops being so pleasant when Ollie reveals to Ruth that, before she and her husband moved into their home, there was a gruesome murder in it. Ruth becomes rather shocked by this and she's even more shocked when she finds out that between the 1920s and the 1930s, there was another series of murders, which were allegedly very brutal.Horrified by the events that took place in her house, Ruth begins to suspect that the person who committed all those murders is still around and he is out to get her. To make things worse, her husband is hardly ever home and Ruth doesn't have anyone to help her, except for Ollie Gibson, who clearly isn't much of a protection anyway.The story is simple, but it's filled with well developed intrigue. "The Evictors" is an unpretentious psychological horror film that mostly features Ruth's descent into a transitory state of paranoia and fear, which threatens to ruin her traditional, happy life. Ruth is a defenseless woman, who suddenly needs to rise up and face an outside force that threatens her very own life. Of course, before rising up, Ruth tries to get her husband to fight for her, but when she realizes that he is unavailable to do so, she comes around and ends up doing all the dirty work by herself. Let's keep in mind that this story takes place in the 1940s, a time where women weren't expected to fight back and it was unimaginable that a frail and delicate lady like Ruth would match a big, strong man in a confrontation. The fact that this film takes place in the 1940s serves the purpose of giving us a lead girl facing severe challenges, since during those days, women were only allowed to say and do so much. If anything, "nice women" were expected to stay home, be good to their husbands, cook for them and, of course, make babies. Well, in this case, Ruth seems pretty comfortable with this arrangement, when she is suddenly pushed out of her comfort zone and is forced to step up and fight. I think this is interesting, because we get to see how our lead girl is forced to drastically change from damsel in distress to warrior, throughout the course of film. Towards the end, we get to see an unexpected and far-fetched twist that evidences Ruth's repressed desires, which in this case is romantic lust towards another man. This gives us another reason to believe that Ruth has changed and she is no longer that fragile and subservient woman that we see at first. My main problem with the ending is that it goes out of its way to give us a surprise, when it is rather unnecessary and it comes off as an attempt to shock the audience just for the hell of it and it's not even all that shocking either. "The Evictors" uses the perfect setting, which is a big dark house, located in the middle of nowhere, where the pretty and delicate housewife spends her the time.This film features no gore whatsoever. The PG rating is a clear indicator that "The Evictors" is free from gore or nudity and it manages to stay on the "innocent" side, while providing a bunch of on-screen murders. The absence of gore can be a somewhat disappointing, but the movie makes up for the lack of gruesomeness with elaborated suspense and greatly achieved moments of tension. One thing that bothers me about "The Evictors" is that for moments, it is seems that Charles B. Pierce went out of his way to fill an hour and thirty minutes with never ending sequences that help to build tension, but that could have easily have been shorter and just as effective. All in all, a very enjoyable psychological horror film, done with a lot of simplicity. It can be highly enjoyed if one isn't expecting brutality of any kind or in-your-face horror elements, such as: visible supernatural elements, a profuse body count, beast-like creatures or exaggerated horror music.

****SPOILERS**** The movie starts back in 1928 with an eviction notice for the Monroes who've been behind in not paying their state & property taxes for the last five years. Refusing to go quietly and join the legions of homeless people in and around Shreveport La. The Monroes decide to fight it out with the evictors made up of mostly state police and end up getting blasted by them in return. It's now 1942 and this young married couple the Watkins Ben & Ruth,Michael Parks & Jessica Parker, move into the former Monroe house not realizing what's waiting for them there! It was the real-estate agent Jake Rudd, Vic Morrow, who sold the house to the Watkins who kept from them not only the deaths of the Monroes but a number of other strange and unexplained death that occurred there over the last 14 years to people that lived, and later died violently, there.Predictably strange things started to happen to the Watkins that included this tall and creepy looking farmhand who showed up at all hours in the day and night to terrorized the couple. He even went so far as murdering with a ax in his back to kind and elderly junk-man who just happened to show up to sell Ruth some of the trinkets he found rummaging through the neighborhood garbage dump! It's the Watkins's next door neighbor the wheelchair bound and widowed Olie Gibson, Sue Ane Langdon, who goes out of her way to make both Ben & Ruth to feel at home in the neighborhood. But you soon notice that their something that Olie's is keeping from them as well as we in the audience that explains the terror what the Watkins are going through! And it all has to do with the shootout back in 1928 with the state police that left the Monroes dead and buried. ***SPOILERS*** "The Evictors" has already after some 35 years reached cult statues with the movie considered among the best of the slew of 1970's horror movies in it concentrating more on story not on special effects as well as blood & gore which is mostly absent in it. The shocking ending that leads to an even more shocking double ending, when you thought the movie was finally over, makes what at that time was a better then average horror movie to an all time classic one!

Keep your expectations low and you might have some fun with this movie from director Charles B. Pierce, which, like his earlier "The Town That Dreaded Sundown", is a period thriller based on a true story. It doesn't add up to much when it's all over, but it's well made and has some good moments. It's really the cast that helps to maintain viewer interest as it plays out with a rather deliberate pace.Michael Parks and the lovely Jessica Harper play Ben and Ruth Watkins, a couple who move into a house in a small Louisiana town in 1942. It seems, however, that realtor Jake Rudd (Vic Morrow) hasn't been forthcoming with them about some details. The house has a violent history: all people who previously tried to move into the house came to bad ends. And before long Ruth begins to be menaced by a glowering redneck who shows up, usually at night, with a big sharp knife.Pierce gives this movie some semblance of style, especially the flashbacks - set in 1928, 1934, and 1939 - which are shot in a sepia tone. The scare scenes that occur really aren't that scary, but Harper is just so watchable that she makes up for any lack of suspense. She and Parks make for a very likable couple, and they're well supported by Morrow and the great Sue Ane Langdon as cheery neighbour Olie Gibson. Familiar character actors Dennis Fimple and Bill Thurman can be seen in small roles.As in "The Town That Dreaded Sundown", the period recreation is nicely done, and the score by Jaime Mendoza-Nava adds a lot to the atmosphere.Ultimately, there's really nothing here that's surprising, but "The Evictors" is still passably engrossing, and it does offer up a fairly interesting ending.One of the final few films for the legendary American International Pictures.Seven out of 10.